Users of communications devices, such as telephones, pagers and similar messaging devices, desire a large degree of control over others' ability to reach them. Many features have been added to such devices to add to that control, such as call forwarding, answering machines, call screening, caller ID, and filtering of incoming calls. For example, some devices may permit one to define a rule that permits business calls to reach the user during business hours or a rule that calls from a particular person are always routed to a voice mail service. However, current controls lack the ability to determine the biometric state of the user when making decisions. That is, current controls in communication devices lack the ability to determine that a user is asleep and should not be disturbed.